dark academia

tiktokers who say classic lit is bad because its not relatable 1. thats not the fucking point 2. you've clearly never read twelfth night as a trans bisexual

you've clearly never read Frankenstein as a student

If you're fucked up enough a lot of classic lit suddenly becomes uncomfortably relatable tbh.

This is 100% true, but also: literature is a great way to engage with people you don't actually relate to, and practice feeling empathy for them anyway. I have never been in a battle, but I have cried over the Iliad multiple times because I was suddenly made very aware that every single war has people like Hector in it, who leave their families one day and just never come home to them. Please keep looking for things you find relatable in unexpected places - but not everything has to be relatable for it to be worthwhile.

Not everything has to be about you to be worth reading

The ghost of Vladimir Nabokov is giving F- grades to everyone who demands relatable characters in literature.